LOS ANGELES — For every dead body that bobs up on a TV crime drama these days, there’s a movie star to solve the case.

The latest example? Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, who says it’s no mystery why he signed to star in a spinoff of the hit procedural Criminal Minds.

“They approached me at the right time — I have two children who are 11 and 13, and I want to see them,” says Whitaker, who also has two older children, ages 18 and 19. “I don’t see boundaries like other people do. I’ll do whatever. I’ll do a video. I’ll go direct. I just like to create. And I’m having a great time on the show.”

Although Whitaker has dabbled in television before with memorable stints on ER and The Shield, the Criminal Minds spinoff will mark his first time as a series headliner. He’s hardly alone.

He joins a number of other film stars who have leapt to the small screen in the past decade, erasing the once-significant line that used to divide the two mediums. Among them: Kiefer Sutherland (24), Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men), Holly Hunter (Saving Grace), Chris O’Donnell (NCIS: Los Angeles) and Gary Sinise (CSI: New York).

Still, Whitaker insists his new job — despite the lengthy commitment — doesn’t signal an end to his versatile film career in front of or behind the camera. “Sometimes I think, 'Am I going to have enough discipline? Am I going to be disciplined enough to get up and write when I need to?’ Otherwise, when I’m doing it, it’s a blast — I won’t do as many movies. I’ll do one a year; I’ll try not to do two. So one movie a year — that’s what most of my peers do anyway.”

As for how the Criminal Minds spinoff will distinguish itself, Whitaker, who just finished work on the pilot, explains this new group of profilers is more “clandestine” than those viewers are accustomed to following.

“Our group, we are behavioural analysts, but I don’t follow rules. My character, Sam Cooper, came back to this unit only if he could operate without rules.”

THE BAU TEAM TRACKS A FEMALE SERIAL KILLER WHO TARGETS POWERFUL BUSINESS EXECUTIVES, ON A REBROADCAST OF "CRIMINAL MINDS," ON A SPECIAL NIGHT, SATURDAY, MARCH 13

"Pleasure Is My Business" - The team searches for a female suspect who uses her professional skills as a high class call girl to lure and kill high-powered executives, on a rebroadcast of CRIMINAL MINDS, on a special night, Saturday, March 13 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. (Originally broadcast 2/25/09)

Norris will play a gruff detective at the local Tallahassee police station in the season's 20th episode, written by showrunner Ed Bernero. The episode will air during May sweeps.

The actor plays DEA agent Hank Schrader, the brother-in-law of Bryan Cranston's lead character, Walter White, on Breaking Bad. (Season 3 premieres March 21.) He guest-starred on Medium last week and is also slated to appear in an episode of Lie to Me later this season.

Criminal Minds: Paget Brewster, pictured on the set of Criminal Minds, is celebrating her birthday on Wednesday. Please join the Criminal Minds Fanatic moderators in wishing Paget a very Happy Birthday!!

03.09.2010 HOTCH AND HIS AGENTS JOIN FORCES WITH ANOTHER BAU TEAM TO SOLVE A SERIES OF MURDERS IN SAN FRANCISCO, ON "CRIMINAL MINDS," WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7

"The Fight" - The BAU team travels to San Francisco to investigate the murders of several homeless men and teams up with a separate group of BAU operatives who are working another case they think is connected, on CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, April 7 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker ("Last King of Scotland") guest stars as Special Agent Sam Cooper, and Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Mary Steenburgen ("The Proposal") guest stars as Director Beth Griffith.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Criminal Minds: Matthew Gray Gubler, pictured on the set of Criminal Minds, is celebrating his birthday on Tuesday. Please join the Criminal Minds Fanatic moderators in wishing Matthew a very Happy Birthday!!

CRIMINAL MINDS was Wednesday’s number one scripted program in viewers and adults 18-49 and CSI: NY placed first at 10:00 PM in viewers and key demos, according to Nielsen preliminary live plus same day ratings for March 3.

Criminal Minds; "But Tuesday was something new for the Chicago native. Mantegna won the 2010 Super Sage Award trophy for having the closest prediction out of the 103 stars who participated in the 21st annual Scripps Howard Celebrity Super Bowl Poll. Mantegna received the trophy Tuesday on the set of his current TV show, "Criminal Minds." "I haven't won an award for football," he said. "I've lost a little cash from football, but I haven't won an award before."

Monday, March 01, 2010

"QUIXOTE STUDIOS–Howard Griffith is, for lack of a better term, a man’s man. No nonsense. No fuss. Long-sleeved, flannel shirt. White, peppered beard. A calm manner and deep voice (with just the tiniest hint that he’s from the South). He is, indeed, a born and raised Texan–one who used to bull-ride (no joke), likes football and served in Vietnam. Sometime after getting back from ‘Nam, the man accidentally found himself on a film crew, fell in love with the business and never looked back. That…was thirty-something years ago. Now, he’s in LA; the Co-Producer of the Emmy-nominated show Criminal Minds. And I’m about to bother him with question after question"

"Solitary Man" - A truck driver is kidnapping women and disposing of them in random locations and the BAU must find out his motive in order to catch him, on CRIMINAL MINDS, Wednesday, March 10 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Gabrielle Carteris ("Beverly Hills 90210") guest stars as a mother who is abducted by the truck driver.